Everyone hates paying bills, especially unavoidable ones like
power. Winston will get traction with this. My opinion is
that when we rightly chose wind power as the source for our
new generation we accepted it would be more expensive than
power from a new dam at Beaumont or wherever (hydro is the
source of Winston's aforementioned cheap power). Hard to know
whether Winston First is right or not. I suspect a little of
both.

The gouging of residential electricity customers by what
amounts to a cartel of energy suppliers who rake in millions
of dollars in after-expenses profits per year and a glut of
overpaid executives in the sector is a national disgrace and
one of the major contributors to income inequality in New
Zealand.

Kiwis seemingly have bought into the argument that they
should pay the same price as Swiss bankers for NZ meat and
dairy, but the electricity companies have no such "market
price" excuse - the electricity is generated locally and
there is no exhorbitant shipping cost. Kiwi power
prices have increased at twice the rate of most other
countries over the past three decades and there is one main
reason for this - pure unadulterated corporate greed and the
sell out politicians that cater to industry at the expense of
the working family.

Victoria University researcher Geoff Bertram has found that
New Zealand's power
prices are now more than twice what they were 30 years ago,
in real
terms. In the United States, Britain, Japan, France and
most of Europe inflation-adjusted power prices are below or
on par with what they were in
the mid-1980s.

Bringing the electricity industry to heel in New Zealand must
become a major election issue this time around.

Has anyone seen how much the sale of our assets contributed
to the budget "surplus" under National? It certainly wasnt
generated by their support for manufacturing here. I have to
laugh. To me it's like a burglar being proud that he can
support his family now he has emptied your
house out while you where looking the other way. Good to see
the Chinese trains are proving a good investment too. Much
better than Hillside could ever do, aye. Who needs local
industry when you can buddy up to the communist sweat shops?